Greene County authorities are reporting the arrest of a Paragould woman on Friday after her baby tested positive for methamphetamine.
On Jan. 14th detectives were called to NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro after an 11-month-old baby was brought to the emergency room with possible COVID-19.
After hospital staff began to draw blood for testing, authorities said the infant’s father, identified as Charles Walker, walked out of the hospital.
Once the bloodwork came back positive for meth, hospital staff told the baby’s mother, Brittany Walker, age 27 that they would have to contact the Department of Human Services. Walker then asked the hospital staff to watch the child as she went to the parking lot to inform her husband. The mother was gone for approximately 20 minutes before returning.
Brittany Walker tested positive for methamphetamine, according to court documents.
Officers then took Walker outside the hospital and placed her under arrest.
Authorities searched the parking lot and were unable to locate Mr. Walker.
Brittany Walker was charged with first-degree child endangerment, introduction of a controlled substance into the body of another person, and exposing a child to a chemical substance or methamphetamine.
Britney Walker was taken to jail with a $25,000 cash-only bond.